Abstract

Finding suitable accommodation in Rome was as much a signal of the connections a cardinal enjoyed as it was of individual financial means. Pope Pius II (1458-64) ensured that his nephew, Francesco Todeschini Piccolomini, enjoyed the security of his position as a cardinal by giving him several opportunities in Rome to provide himself with suitable accommodation. This article explores the way that Francesco Piccolomini used the opportunities made available to him by his uncle to establish him in Rome for the next forty years. It proposes that the Piccolomini palace is visible in a sixteenth century drawing, and it investigates the nature of the work at San Saba.